The long road began for the Whitsunday’s favourite football team back in early January, as Whitsunday United men’s kicked off preseason to get back to fitness and form come the Football Queensland Premier League 3 season in late March.
A string of new players have found their way to the men’s side, bolstering the already strong squad who, in a frantic final series of games, managed to make it all the way to the semi-finals of last year’s competition.
The team, who suffered some extremely one-sided losses early in the season, won a frenetic series of final games, launching them from almost bottom place to fourth. On the way, they mounted a stellar comeback from 0-4 down to win 5-4 against Mackay Lions Soccer Club.
Those victories now in the past, the men’s team move ever onwards to the encroaching 2022 season.
They’ve welcomed new head coach, Nick Hodgen, who’s arrived with a spate of fresh ideas to turn the once quick, counter-attacking side into a metronomic, possession-based machine. With him, he brings his son Harry Hodgen, a lightning quick winger with a penchant for dribbling who is the end product to the team’s slow buildup.
A potential defensive signing of the year arrived early in preseason with the acquisition of Scott Boldy. A long-time player in the suburbs of Brisbane, Boldy joins the upper echelon of signings United have made in recent years. He sits alongside Thomas Torzsok, Sam Blake, and captain James McEvoy-Bowe as a class above the rest in terms of both technical ability and physical attributes.
Sam Blake is still out from injury and is sorely missed. Not only a defensive presence, Blake was top scorer from centre half, an achievement which led teammates to regularly sing his name at the end of matchdays, claiming “Sam Blake’s on fire, your defense is terrified.”
In recent weeks the side has taken to the pitch on the weekends, facing off in internal trials, and there’s an undoubted improvement in the quality of football. Whether that’s the new players themselves or the pressure of fresh faces vying for a spot in the first XI, that’s soon to be told.
On February 12 Whitsunday United’s men’s team will play a preseason friendly against Mackay Magpie Crusaders to test their mettle at the Whitsunday Sports Park.
Captain of Whitsunday United Football Club, James McEvoy-Bowe, is eager to get the season underway
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